One in three internet users globally is a child. This proportion is likely to be even higher in the global South. Organizations working to advance children’s rights and promote well-being need to understand how to reduce the risk of harm children face online while maximizing their opportunities for learning, participation and creativity. The PPT covers digital safety for children.

1. ONLINE SAFETY FOR
CHILDREN
Kumar Manish | @kumarmanish9

2. Steps
Online safety
steps for kids
¨ Understand
¨ Learn
¨ Explore
¨ Agree
¨ Teach
¨ Model
¨ Plan

3. Children in Digital Age
¨ One in three internet users globally is a child. This
proportion is likely to be even higher in the global South.
¨ Organizations working to advance children’s rights and
promote well-being need to understand how to reduce the
risk of harm children face online while maximizing their
opportunities for learning, participation and creativity.
¨ Crucially, children’s perspectives and experiences need to
be considered when drafting policies that govern the use of
young people’s digital use, as well as when designing the
technology itself. However, there is still insufficient evidence
globally to enable policy and practice to act in children’s
best interest.

4. What are the key online challenges
The internet offers endless opportunities for people to learn, connect
and be entertained, but there are also some downsides that are
important to understand. While the challenges each child may face will
be different, there are some risks that are worth understanding in more
detail.
¨ Online bullying
¨ Unwanted contact
¨ Social media risks
¨ Sexting and nudes
¨ Pornography
¨ Screentime
¨ Upsetting content

5. Online Bullying

6. Online bullying can take many forms:
¨ name calling online
¨ repeated unwanted online messages
¨ spreading rumours or lies
¨ fake accounts used to harass people
¨ excluding people from social activities
¨ embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake
profiles

7. What to do if your child is being bullied
¨ Stay calm: Your child needs to be able to talk to you and
know that you’ll be level headed, thoughtful and helpful in
your response.
¨ Evaluate the situation: It’s important to know exactly what’s
going on before you can work out what to do next. Is it a
few off hand remarks, or is it something more serious?
¨ Understand how your child is being affected: If your child is
upset about a situation, let them know that you understand
and it’s OK to be upset.
¨ Don’t take away the technology: Taking away your child’s
laptop or mobile phone can alienate them from their most
important support network – their peers.
¨ Work through a plan together.

8. Options for dealing with online bullying
Each situation is different, and we can help you to understand the
best options available to you. There are also some actions that
you’re able to take yourself that can help.
¨ Teach your child how to use the features available on most social
networking sites including blocking and unfriending people and
reporting content.
¨ You should also show them how to update privacy settings on
social media – if you’re not sure how, visit the safety centres of
the social media platforms they use.

9. Online Grooming

10. How do groomers get close to young
people?
¨ Pretending they are someone that they aren’t (using a fake photo or
profile)
¨ Claiming to have a shared interest (e.g. a sport, music or other hobby)
¨ Sharing their own difficulties/problems and encouraging the other person to
as well
¨ Giving lots of attention and compliments
¨ Buying gifts either online or offline
¨ Asking for the friendship/relationship to be kept secret from others
¨ Wanting to talk or video chat online when no one else is around
¨ Acting nervous or strange when it’s mentioned that parents or another adult
is close by

11. What are the signs that my child
might be being groomed?
¨ Some of the signs that your child might be being groomed or
something else is happening includes your child:
¨ Withdrawing from the family
¨ Receiving mail, gifts or packages from someone you don’t know
¨ Has pornography on their devices
¨ Is receiving phone calls from people you don’t know or is
making calls to numbers you don’t know and they won’t explain
who they are talking to
¨ Turning off their device quickly or changes the screen when you
come into the room

12. Social media advice

13. What are the age restrictions?
¨ The minimum sign up age for Facebook, Instagram,
Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube is 13. This is because
a child’s social and emotional capability is still
developing which can make it more difficult to
identify and manage challenges that occur on a
platform designed for adults and teens.
¨ If your child is under 13 and keen to use social
media, consider their capability to manage
potential online challenges before setting up a
profile. It is better your child is honest with you as
you can help them to stay safe online.

14. What do you know about the app or
platform?
¨ Read about the platform and use it yourself before
letting your kids use it to get a feel for how it works
and what the online community is like.
¨ It’s best if the platform your child is considering has
strong privacy options and offers moderating,
reporting and blocking features. Before setting
them up try to familiarise yourself with the privacy
and security features available, and learn how
implement them.

15. Tips for signing up safely
¨ Keep it locked: Show child how to set a PIN or
password to protect their devices, accounts and
private information
¨ Keep it private: Make sure child doesn’t disclose
personal information like their address and that
they know how to keep their profiles private
¨ Keep it helpful: Explain to ychild that what they do
online leaves a digital footprint so they should think
twice about what they are doing – before they do it

16. Tips for signing up safely
¨ Keep it real: Talk to child about how to handle
approaches from strangers and why sometimes
people pretend to be someone else online
¨ Keep it friendly: Teach child to be kind and respectful
online, and to be careful talking to, or sharing
information with, people they don’t know
¨ Make sure they know about the online safety basics.
How to create a strong password, what information to
protect online (including passwords, personal
information, payment details etc), as well as
discussing the concept of a digital footprint.

17. What is Digital Footprint?
Young people will often learn about the concept of a
‘digital footprint‘ at school. Anything that is shared,
posted or published online becomes part of your
digital record and it can be hard to get the
information removed.
Talk to kids about the risks of sharing personal
information and sexual images and what can happen
to those photos or videos once created and shared.
Teach them how to use privacy settings to lock down
social media accounts, restricting who can view your
profile online and being cautious about sharing

18. Screen Time

19. FIVE TIPS TO HELP MANAGE SCREEN
TIME
¨ Understand what they’re doing
¨ Help them to self-manage screen time.
¨ Set boundaries
¨ Technological solutions
¨ Is your child spending too much time online?

20. Helping young people exposed to
upsetting content

21. What to do if a young person is
exposed to upsetting content
¨ Try not to assign blame about how they came across the
material
¨ Reassure them that it isn’t their fault
¨ Don’t trivialise what they have seen by saying that the material
may not be real (it is important to deal with their feelings first)
¨ Provide comfort and assurance
¨ Normalise their response, e.g., ‘It’s normal to be scared/
angry/upset/confused’
¨ Don’t overreact by taking away the technology – this will make
them less likely to talk to you if something else happens and it
can make them feel like they are to blame
¨ Make sure that they know you are glad that they came to you

22. Learn

23. Where to start ?

24. Understand online activities:
¨ Understand the online activities and experiences child engages
is or wants to explore.
¨ Take the time to tune in to the conversation – what might seem
like just a game to you might be the way your child is
connecting and interacting with people they don’t know
¨ Have regular proactive conversations about their online
activities
¨ Ask your child about the advice they would give to a friend
facing an online challenge. Show an interest in what they do
and why as it makes it easier to have more difficult
conversations if a challenge arises

25. Talk, Talk, Talk

26. Explore

27. Where to Start ?
¨ Explore the websites, apps and technology child
uses.
¨ Don’t ignore new technologies. If you don’t take an
interest or explore them yourself your young people
will use them – if not at home then at their friends’
houses or at school and it will be harder for them to
talk to you.
¨ Ask your child to show you how their favourite
website or device works.
¨ Make sure you also take the time to read terms and
conditions.

28. Teach

29. Know the safety :
¨ Keep it locked: Passwords and pin codes help protect child’s profiles and accounts.
Set up pins and passwords – and reinforce they shouldn’t be shared with anyone
except you. Get more information on how to choose a good password on our
website
¨ Keep it private: Some information when shared publicly online can make your child
more vulnerable to identity theft or grooming. It’s important to be cautious when
sharing:
a. Passwords
b. Address
c. Birthdate
d. Bank account details
e. School details
f. Sharing their location on apps
g. Personal information that can be used to guess security questions

30. Know the safety :
¨ Keep it helpful: A digital footprint is the trail of ‘electronic breadcrumbs’
you leave behind online and it needs to be managed carefully. Think
before you publish anything online.
¨ Once information, a Tweet, a status update or a photo is posted online, it’s
almost impossible to remove completely – even if it’s later deleted or
modified. Anything your child publishes can last long after they think it has
been deleted and may even follow them into adulthood. Learn more about
digital footprints
¨ Keep it real: It can seem like common knowledge to adults, but it is hard for
children to understand that not everyone is who they say they are. It can be
exciting when people want to friend, communicate or follow them. Talk to
your child about invites or conversations with strangers, why this is not safe
and how they should handle it
¨ Keep it friendly: Teach your child to be kind and respectful online, and to
be careful talking to, or sharing information with, people they don’t know

31. Agree on expectations
¨ A balanced amount of time online
¨ The apps and sites that are appropriate to use
¨ How their behaviour impacts on others
¨ What types of information is safe to share online
¨ Where they should go for advice (parents, another
trusted adult, a teacher )

32. Plan

33. Where to go when something goes
wrong ?
¨ What services are available and when you should
contact them just in case.
¨ Police – Call 100.
¨ Childline – 1098
¨ Suicide Helpline –
¨ Women helpline –
¨ Counsellor –
¨ And others related services

34. Netsafe.org /google
Thanks.